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2024 SOUTH AFRICAN SC CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Thursday, September 26th – Sunday, September 29th
- King’s Park Swimming Pool, Durban, KZN, South Africa
- SCM (25m)
- Psych Sheet
- SwimSwam Preview
As we’ve previewed, the 2024 South African Short Course Championships are upon us, with the 4-day affair kicking off tomorrow, September 26th. The competition serves as a qualification opportunity for this year’s Short Course World Championships taking place in Budapest in December.
Both Chad Le Clos and Lara van Niekerk are among the expected racers, with the Olympic athletes coming off of injuries that sidelined them as of late.
21-year-old breaststroke ace van Niekerk has been battling a back injury that has kept her out of regular training for 2 months.
Speaking to Swimming South Africa, van Niekerk says she’s at about ‘90%’ ready for this competition.
“I was off for two months due to a back injury that I picked up racing overseas so I’ve been back in the pool for about six weeks now,” she said.
“Training has been a bit up and down, trying to get back into it and back into shape. Obviously being off for that long is not ideal but we make do with what we’ve got.
“I’m just going with the mindset of enjoying it and going out there and racing again. It’s my first competition since May so it’s just going to be a fun one.
Looking towards Budapest, van Niekerk says, “Depending on how the gala goes, in the next few weeks of training, we will make the call on whether I’ll go to World Short Course or not but I would love to go. I’ve always loved short course but it all depends on how it goes.”
For Le Clos’ part, the 32-year-old suffered a shoulder injury just a few weeks ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Now the free and fly speedster says, “Things are going really good. My shoulder is great, I’m really, really happy.
“It took me a long time, three and a half weeks of not doing anything and the rest really did me amazing wonders… I’ve been starting with a rehab programme for a while now. I’m on week five already with that and I’ve started the gym programme to go with it to help strengthen up all those areas that I’m lacking in so I’m very happy with the progress.
“I’m definitely not 1000 per cent fit so I’m not looking to go world records this weekend but I am looking to hopefully pick up a couple of wins and post one or two decent times so I’m very, very excited actually.”
Le Clos has a chance to overtake retired American Ryan Lochte‘s Short Course World Championships medal tally should he race in December. Lochte’s medal count sits at 23 whereas Le Clos has amassed 19 in all.
“Obviously December is very important,” Le Clos states. “Hopefully I can pick up another medal or two – that would be unbelievable… so I’m very, very excited about that.”
Rebecca Meder is another one to watch this week, having entered a stacked program of 6 events.
Meder tells Swimming South Africa, “The time after the Olympic Game went really quickly.
“It’s crazy to think that it was just short of two months ago that I raced.
“I probably didn’t have as long of a break as other swimmers but I had enough time. I told Graham [Hill] I was ready to get back in. I’ve got short course trials coming up and I want to swim really well there with the intention of getting solid times so I can go to World Short Course in December.”
